Key Takeaways:
A group of Japanese banks has revealed that using Ripple's XRP for cross-border payments slashed costs by 60 percent compared to the traditional SWIFT network, according to live pilot data released on April 13, 2026.
"The results from this live pilot demonstrate a significant quantitative advantage in using XRP for international settlement," a spokesperson for the banking consortium said in the announcement. "A 60 percent reduction in costs is a compelling figure for any financial institution."
The pilot program, which involved several of Japan's leading financial institutions, processed live transactions over several weeks. The cost analysis compared the total fees, including liquidity and transaction costs, of using Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, which uses XRP, against the fees associated with the current SWIFT messaging and correspondent banking system.
The findings present a direct challenge to SWIFT's long-standing dominance in the multi-trillion dollar cross-border payments market. If these cost savings are replicated at scale, it could trigger a broader shift among banks and payment providers toward blockchain-based solutions, significantly increasing demand and utility for the XRP asset.
For decades, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has been the primary network for international financial messaging, connecting over 11,000 institutions globally. However, it has faced criticism for high costs, slow settlement times, and a lack of transparency. While SWIFT has introduced its own upgrades, such as the Global Payments Innovation (gpi) initiative, this pilot data from Japan suggests that distributed ledger technology offers a more fundamental cost advantage.
The 60% cost reduction figure is a direct threat to the correspondent banking system that underpins SWIFT, where multiple intermediary banks are required to process a single payment, each adding fees and delays. Ripple's ODL, by using XRP as a bridge currency, aims to eliminate the need for these pre-funded nostro/vostro accounts, enabling instant settlement with lower overhead.
This successful pilot could serve as a major validation point for Ripple and the broader crypto industry's promise to revolutionize finance. While other projects like Stellar (XLM) are also focused on improving cross-border payments, this specific, quantifiable data from a group of established banks provides powerful evidence of real-world utility. The news could bolster investor confidence and attract further institutional interest in adopting XRP for payment flows, potentially impacting its valuation and network activity. The next step will be observing whether these pilot results lead to full-scale commercial deployment by the participating Japanese banks and others in the region.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
